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5 of the best Call of Duty moments

The Call of Duty series has dropped many a jaw over the years – and here are five of the most startling moments in the franchise. Spoilers follow…

08 November 2011/12:29GMT

Call of Duty – Stalingrad

Storming the beaches is what made Saving Private Ryan famous, and when Call of Duty recreated that bedlam at the killing fields of Stalingrad, the fear was palpable. Granted, it looks a bit dated now with all those strangely-identical soldiers in the boat at the start. But once you’ve chosen either ammo or a gun – but not both – and you're running in and out of bunkers while bombs drop about you, the graphics suddenly feel a lot more real.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – helicopter nuked

One of the most unique experiences in a video game – seeing a nuclear explosion from a first-person perspective. Your helicopter's downed by the shockwave and you're left to helplessly crawl through the wreckage, slowly expiring under the shadow of the mushroom cloud. In a genre where death just means restarting from the last checkpoint, this glimpse of mortality was a genuine shock – and a hint that gaming is finally reaching the Hollywood level of story-telling.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – No Russian

Maybe it's a bit rich to call this one of the best moments in the Call of Duty franchise – but it was certainly one of the most memorable. A game has never created such public controversy before without being banned. Playing as an undercover operative accompanying a group of Russian terrorists, you're forced to participate in a massacre of civilians in an airport. Of course you don’t have to shoot, but it’s the principle that the Daily Mail hates. A look at the difficult choices faced by undercover agents and the harsh realities of global conflict, or a tabloid-baiting stunt? Either way it helped make the series even more famous than it already was.

Call of Duty World at War – Nazi Zombies

Nazi Zombies was one of the greatest unlocks completing a game has ever granted. It's a whole new game with never-ending waves of zombies that make it impossible to complete but equally impossible to quit.As compulsive as gambling, but without any of the losses – except sleep.

Call of Duty: Black Ops – the torture scene

Following on from Modern Warfare 2’s shocking No Russian level, the boys who made Black Ops were clearly aiming to up the ante. Stabbing a piece of glass into a man’s mouth and then pressing the button to punch him is pretty harsh. Creating emotional reactions of discomfort is an art, one that made this scene stand out in our minds. Will Modern Warfare 3 be able to top what's gone before?